Tonight's Movie: Design for Scandal (1941) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

DESIGN FOR SCANDAL (1941) is an MGM romantic comedy starring the appealing team of Rosalind Russell and Walter Pidgeon.

It's hard for me to believe it's been 15 years since I first saw the film and reviewed it here back in 2007. It was released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection in 2011 and continues to be manufactured on demand over a decade later. It was a treat to revisit it for this review.

Russell plays Cordelia Porter, a judge who presides over the divorce of newspaper publisher Judson Blair (Edward Arnold) and his wife Adele (Mary Beth Hughes).

Blair is unhappy with the alimony the judge awards his ex-wife, but Blair's recently fired reporter, Jeff Sherman (Pidgeon), negotiates a deal: He gets his job back, including his desired assignment and other perks, if he can involve the judge in a scandal which will force her off Blair's case so it can be appealed to another judge.

Jeff comes up with an elaborate alienation of affection plot which involves his phony engagement to Dotty (Jean Rogers) and pretending to be a sculptor, as sculpting is Cordelia's hobby. No one will be surprised that things become even more complicated when he falls in love with Cordelia for real.

It's all vaguely reminiscent of MGM's LIBELED LADY (1936), which also involved a newspaperman in a plot to undo a court award and one of the characters faking a hobby. It's pretty zany, but Lionel Houser's script has some good lines and Russell is warm and appealing. She looks lovely, although at times I wondered how her complicated Sydney Guilaroff hairstyles were constructed!

Pidgeon is stuck playing a devious character, but as the film goes on the audience warms to him, just as he falls for Cordelia.

Pidgeon and Russell had both been MGM contractees for a few years at this point; this was, in fact, Russell's last film at MGM. She worked at a variety of studios throughout the 1940s, including Columbia, RKO, Warner Bros., and Paramount Pictures, receiving three Best Actress nominations along the way, with another to follow in the late '50s.

Pidgeon had recently had success on loan to other studios in films such as MAN HUNT (1941) and HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941), and in 1941 he also made BLOSSOMS IN THE DUST (1941), the first of several MGM films teaming him with Greer Garson. His next film was MRS. MINIVER (1942) with Garson; HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY and MRS. MINIVER were back-to-back Best Picture winners. Pidgeon would remain at MGM for another 15 years after DESIGN FOR SCANDAL, a run which included two Best Actor nominations in the early '40s.

The fine supporting cast of DESIGN FOR SCANDAL includes Lee Bowman, Anne Revere, Barbara Jo Allen ("Vera Vague"), Charles Coleman, Thurston Hall, Addison Richards, Charlotte Wynters, Guy Kibbee, and Milton Kibbee.

The movie runs a well-paced 85 minutes. It was directed by Norman Taurog; the black and white cinematography was by William Daniels and Leonard Smith. Russell's gowns were designed by Kalloch. The score was by Franz Waxman.

The Warner Archive DVD print is of good quality, with fine sound. The disc includes the trailer.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive DVDs may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection Amazon Store or from any online retailers where DVDs are sold.

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